I found some amazing freeform work on pinterest and google and I just had to give it a try. Whilst there are no patterns (that’s basically the only rule of freeform) there are certain motifs that appear frequently – spirals in particular. There are some great tutorials and how-tos online and on U-tube, put I would personally recommend Snovej’s freeform tutorials. I also armed myself with Prudence Mapstone’s .PDF tutorial entitled ‘Spectaclar Spirals‘ (available on Ravelry). This isn’t free but if you’re feeling flush it’s worth downloading. All the pics in here are my early attempts done while following Prudence’s spiral tutorial.

Another key ingredient in Freeform work is that of Texture.So I paid a visit to my local yarn store and loaded up on lots of different textured yarns. And hey – Christmas is coming – so you just have to have tinsel – right?!?

I was so surprised to find a yarn made specially for ‘pots and pits’ that I just had to buy it!

Next step was to assemble a ‘palette’ of colours and textures for creating my first ‘scrumbles’ and that crazy Pots ‘n Pits yarn had to be included. My plan was to use a blue/green underwater type palette and here’s my selection:

So off I went – I wanted to see how that colour-changing green would work out – so I started with …. can you guess? … a spiral!

I next added some surface embellishment and a ruffle using another colour-changer (I love colour-changing yarns in case you hadn’t guessed) and suddenly my original plans went out the window. I so loved the purple with the blue and green – that I just had to introduce a deep wine/purple to the mix. But then I thought the wine a bit dark and then just had to add some silver to bling-it-up. When it comes to freeform – it’s good to start with an overall plan but you should also be prepared to Expect the Unexpected!

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From an Italian blog Daniela Cerri this free form crochet room divider/screen. Wow lots of work done in that ! From what I can gather from the translation (I don’t read Italian) the author did it herself. KUDOS for the work.

I’ve been tending to a sick 5 year old which is never fun, but it has allowed me to sit during the day and work on my freeform purse. As you can see I’ve made some headway!

My two free form experiments (Modern Irish FreeForm Crochet and FreeForm Crochet) have changed the way I look at this craft. It actually makes me feel like an artist while I’m working, and I have never thought of myself that way. If you haven’t given freeform a try and you like the look of it, I highly recommend checking out the two Craftsy classes I took to get started in this style. I am not affiliated with Craftsy in anyway, but the freeform classes by Myra Wood are fun and fantastic. If you are interested in the craft, but don’t want to pay, there are plenty of tutorials out on the…

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Yes, my current fascination is with FreeForm (I’ll be posting my early scrumbles soon) but I just finished these today and had to post – they’re just so cute.

Hurricane Ophelia was storming across Ireland today and everyone battened down the hatches and stayed indoors. My office was closed – so obviously I used my unexpected free-time productively … It’s a real novelty to be able to sit at home crocheting on a Monday afternoon. I was as snuggly indoors as the wool used for my latest project. Sirdar Snuggly Crofter (Baby Fair Isle effect DK).

Without knowing the sex of the babies these are intended for I wanted to keep the colour neutral. What could be more neutral than natural neutrals – mushroom, clouds, cream and mink?

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I first learned to crochet from the best knitter/crocheter (I better not call her a ‘hooker’) I know – my Mam (that’s Irish for ‘Mum’ or ‘Mom’ btw). She was an actual Pro: for pocket-money, she used to knit/crochet the display items in our local yarn store. Mam even crocheted my communion dress – I just HAVE TO dig out a photo of that dress – her wonderful work needs to be appreciated (even after 40-odd years) – watch this space.